


Wetwired

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [72]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, MSR, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:42:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Wetwired

He was _certain_ he’d be able to talk her down, to get through to her when no one else could. But she was so much worse off than he’d anticipated. 

He didn’t want to think about what might have happened if Mrs. Scully hadn’t been there.

Scully’s weapon dropped to the floor with a muted thud, and her mother looked up, meeting Mulder’s eyes over Scully’s shoulder. Mulder nodded tightly and backed out of the room before pulling his phone from his pocket. The immediate danger had passed, and he wasn’t about to set his partner off again by approaching her while she was still so vulnerable. He dialed Skinner’s number.

“You can call off the search,” he said quietly when his boss answered. “I’m with her.”

“Where are you? Is she all right?”

“She’s…” He looked through the doorway and across the room at the women still crouched on the floor. “She’ll be okay. I’m going to have her mother drive her to the hospital.”

“I’ll call in an ambulance, just give me your location.”

“No, sir, with all due respect, an ambulance is the last thing she needs right now.”

“Agent Mulder, I don’t understand. How could that--”

“Agent Scully is not in her right mind. Lights and sirens and people strapping her to a gurney… she’s going to feel extremely threatened by all of that. The only person she trusts right now is her mother. She’ll go quietly if we just let Mrs. Scully take her.”

“How can we be sure she won’t turn on her mother next?”

“Fox?” 

Mulder looked up and met Mrs. Scully’s gaze. “Sir, I’m gonna have to call you back.” He hung up and took a step back toward them, stopping when she put her hand up. “Mrs. Scully, I think--”

“Dana has agreed to let me take her to a hospital, but only if you do not follow us.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “Fox, we are already asking a lot of her right now, and if you truly want to show Dana that you mean her no harm, you’ll do as she asks.”

Scully still wouldn’t look at him, her face pressed against her mother’s shoulder. Mrs. Scully’s gaze was pleading but firm. As much as it hurt to realize that his partner believed such horrible things about him, it wasn’t so very long ago that the tables were turned; he, unfortunately, understood exactly how an altered mental state could twist reality into something terrifying, but in a way that made it seem just as real as anything else. He also knew that the best way to help her just then was to keep her from feeling any more threatened than she already did.

“Okay,” he said finally. “But she needs to leave her gun.”

“No!” Scully’s moan was muffled against her mother’s shoulder. She lifted her head, whispering harshly. “I won’t let him kill me, Mom. I won’t let him kill us both.”

Mulder kept his voice calm. “I’m not going to kill anyone. I swear. But right now you’re considered armed and dangerous, and you _know_ what they’ll do if they find you. I have to be able to tell them you’re unarmed.” He dropped his voice to a murmur. “Please, Scully. You know I’m right. Even if you think I’m lying about everything else, you know the protocol as well as I do.”

He held his breath, waiting for her to respond. Even from across the room, he could see her trembling. Mrs. Scully rubbed gentle circles on her daughter’s back. Finally, with a shuddering breath, Scully nodded, and Mulder sighed with relief.

“Come on, Dana,” her mother said. “Let’s go get you some help. Fox will wait until you decide it’s okay for him to join us, won’t you, Fox?”

“Yes, Mrs. Scully. You have my word.”

He watched them stand and slowly make their way toward the garage door, fighting the impulse to run and help when Scully stumbled. She whipped her head to look at him, wide-eyed, and he stepped backward instead, hands raised. 

“Mom, take his keys so he can’t follow us.”

“Scully, I’m not gonna--”

“I’m not. Taking. Any chances.” If her jaw were any tighter, she’d break her own teeth. The desperation on her face as reason warred with paranoia was heartbreaking to watch. Sighing, he nodded again.

“Okay. Okay, Scully.” Pulling the keys from his pocket, he met Mrs. Scully’s eye and gently tossed them across the room to her.

“Thank you, Fox,” the older woman said, and they walked out the door.

When he heard them drive away, he pulled out his phone and called Skinner back.

“Sir? I’m going to need a ride.”


End file.
